The Man Who Lost His Spade

A Man was engaged in digging over his vineyard, and one day on
coming to work he missed his Spade. Thinking it may have been
stolen by one of his labourers, he questioned them closely, but
they one and all denied any knowledge of it. He was not convinced
by their denials, and insisted that they should all go to the town
and take oath in a temple that they were not guilty of the theft.
This was because he had no great opinion of the simple country
deities, but thought that the thief would not pass undetected by
the shrewder gods of the town. When they got inside the gates the
first thing they heard was the town crier proclaiming a reward for
information about a thief who had stolen something from the city
temple. "Well," said the Man to himself, "it strikes me I had
better go back home again. If these town gods can't detect the
thieves who steal from their own temples, it's scarcely likely they
can tell me who stole my Spade."